The Yorkshire Dales Heritage Directory - Full List - Natural Heritage

Speleology
Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features (karst is landscape characterised by surface and underground forms, created as a result of the action of water on permeable limestone). It includes their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form and change over time. This is a cross-disciplinary field that combines a knowledge of chemistry, biology, geology, meteorology and cartography to develop portraits of caves as complex, evolving systems.

In the Yorkshire Dales this is particular relevant, as the area, containing some of Britain's finest limestone scenery, has extensive networks of cave systems. Special features include the Gaping Gill system on the western flank of Ingleborough, Alum Pot, Mossdale Caverns and the Kingsdale Master System in Kingsdale near Ingleton. The Lancaster Pot and Easegill Caverns System has over 70 km of known passages and is currently believed to be the longest and most complex cave system in Britain.

There are plenty of opportunities for the non-expert to experience this subterranean world, however, with special show caves open to the public such as White Scar Caves near Ingleton, Ingleborough Cave in Clapdale near Clapham, and Stump Cross Caverns near Pateley Bridge.

White Scar Cave White Scar Cave takes its name from the limestone outcrops or scars which overlook the entrance. The 'Three Peaks' - Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent and Whernside - dominate this part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Their distinctive shapes are due to their structure: nearly horizontal layers of grit and shale which rest on the Great Scar Limestone. White Scar Cave was formed under Ingleborough between 400,000 and 100,000 years ago, in warmer periods which occured between the Ice Ages. Water flowed through the cracks in the limestone, dissolving and eroding the rock to produce the caverns, passages and formations that we see today.	Ingleborough Cave Until 1837 the secrets of Ingleborough Cave were hidden behind large natural calcite dams behind which water had ponded, submerging much of the passage beyond. These were broken down following a flood, to reveal a wonderland of sculpted passages and beautiful cave formations which have been delighting visitors ever since.
Limestone Pavements Action Group The Limestone Pavements Action Group ...	British Cave Research Association
Craven Pothole Club	How Stean Gorge
Stump Cross Caverns

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